A slice of nature on canvas
17 Jan 2013 10:52 PM GMT
It isn’t everyday that the city gets to see the works of masters who are no longer among us. However, the works of one such, Gopal Ghose — widely known for his sketches of the infamous man-made famine of 1943 — is now displayed in the Capital’s National Gallery of Modern Art. Gopal Ghose, the exhibition, has been organised in association with Akar Prakar gallery, Kolkata to commemorate his birth centenary.
Born in Calcutta, Ghose spent his childhood and adolescence shifting between Shimla, Benaras and Allahabad, since his father was recruited in the army. It was his father who spotted his artistic talents and gave him John Ruskin’s Elements of Drawing. Ghose’s pictorial language is inspired by Deviprosad Roy Chowdhury, under whom he studied at the Government School of Art, Madras.
He later shifted to a more contextually relevant pictorial diction during his association with the collective Calcutta Group. Ghose’s 1947 exhibition at the Exhibition Hall, Parliament Street, was appreciated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
‘To a Bengali, the name Gopal Ghose is certainly not alien. However, he is usually identified by a signature style that is marked by brilliant passages of pure hue and the elan of flourish in the calligraphic line. That this is but one aspect of his creative self, would be apparent through the range of works in the present exhibition, which in itself is a selection from what is a much larger body spread out in various collections,’ says curator Dr Sanjay Mallik.
Ghose’s pictorial language was was initially inspired to a great extent by the Bengal School diction, but his personal language transformed during the 1940s. His sketches of the infamous man-made famine of 1943 and the paintings executed during his association with the collective Calcutta Group testify his shift to a more contextually relevant pictorial diction that was oriented towards a boisterous exploration of the chromatic.
However, in the decades that followed, Ghose’s works were more profound and had a serene note to them. ‘In the 1970s, the inward gaze crystallised further, as locale-specificity increasingly made space for the visionary, while his final paintings from 1980 returned once more to the flourish that transfixed fleeting impulsive impressions into momentous images,’ adds Mallik.
Take a look at the paintings. You will come back feeing profound.
DETAIL
At: National Gallery of Modern Art, India Gate
On Till: 20 January
Timings: 10 am to 6 pm
Born in Calcutta, Ghose spent his childhood and adolescence shifting between Shimla, Benaras and Allahabad, since his father was recruited in the army. It was his father who spotted his artistic talents and gave him John Ruskin’s Elements of Drawing. Ghose’s pictorial language is inspired by Deviprosad Roy Chowdhury, under whom he studied at the Government School of Art, Madras.
He later shifted to a more contextually relevant pictorial diction during his association with the collective Calcutta Group. Ghose’s 1947 exhibition at the Exhibition Hall, Parliament Street, was appreciated by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
‘To a Bengali, the name Gopal Ghose is certainly not alien. However, he is usually identified by a signature style that is marked by brilliant passages of pure hue and the elan of flourish in the calligraphic line. That this is but one aspect of his creative self, would be apparent through the range of works in the present exhibition, which in itself is a selection from what is a much larger body spread out in various collections,’ says curator Dr Sanjay Mallik.
Ghose’s pictorial language was was initially inspired to a great extent by the Bengal School diction, but his personal language transformed during the 1940s. His sketches of the infamous man-made famine of 1943 and the paintings executed during his association with the collective Calcutta Group testify his shift to a more contextually relevant pictorial diction that was oriented towards a boisterous exploration of the chromatic.
However, in the decades that followed, Ghose’s works were more profound and had a serene note to them. ‘In the 1970s, the inward gaze crystallised further, as locale-specificity increasingly made space for the visionary, while his final paintings from 1980 returned once more to the flourish that transfixed fleeting impulsive impressions into momentous images,’ adds Mallik.
Take a look at the paintings. You will come back feeing profound.
DETAIL
At: National Gallery of Modern Art, India Gate
On Till: 20 January
Timings: 10 am to 6 pm
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